Amazing Tips for Beginner Bike Riders

During their inaugural year of riding, people soak up enormous amounts of knowledge about how to ride--often by making blunders. Here, some notes from the steepest slope on the learning curve, and a guide to avoiding common rookie mistakes.

IT'S SIMPLE TO START RIDING A BIKE if all you're going to do is noodle around the neighborhood on a beach cruiser. But what if you just bought your first real road bike and plunge straight in by trying to ride in a pack, climb big hills, and tackle long miles? As everyone who's ever clipped in for the first time then crashed to the ground knows, it's not that easy. On these pages, we introduce four rookie riders—all of whom started riding in 2010—fresh off the incandescent highs and soul-crushing lows of that first time around the block. Here are their proven strategies and best tips for beginner bike riders.

The Rookie: Matt Cook, 39, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Cook started riding in January 2010, soon after he overheard his four-year-old daughter turn down candy because she wanted to be a gymnast, not "get fat like my daddy." "After picking my ego up off the floor," he says, "I started looking for something to do about it." After a relative suggested he try a sprint-distance triathlon, he dusted off his mountain bike and started riding his 2-mile commute. A few weeks later, he bought a road bike on Craigslist, and after a few rides with friends, he plunged into his first big group ride that April.

The paceline proved his greatest challenge. "I had a terrible time with it," he says. "When I'd pull off the front, the riders would whiz by and I got dropped about 75 percent of the time. Being a heavy guy [6 feet, 280 pounds when he started], I couldn't accelerate to close the gap. Big diesel-truck engine, but not a lot of sports car here."

Cook refused to give up. He got helpful advice and learned by sticking with it. He also whittled off weight, and wound up dropping 40 pounds (though he since gained some back). Now he considers himself a cyclist who also runs and swims rather than a triathlete.

The birth of his third child this year cut down on riding time. "But I'm focusing on intervals to develop my power and praying for time to work on my endurance," he says. "That should help me hang with the pack."

The Challenge: Hanging In A Paceline
New riders get scared at first pedaling so close to others. Modulating speed over undulating terrain is challenging. For some, the intensity of the new experience can be mentally exhausting. But then they learn how much energy they can save in a pack.

The Advice: To get more comfortable in a paceline, start a bit farther back, says James Herrera of Performance Driven consulting in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "You can enjoy huge drafting benefits from 2 to 3 feet away. So start there." Then look through the rider in front of you so you can anticipate what the group will do, says Andy Applegate, a coach with Carmichael Training Systems who is based in Asheville, North Carolina.

When it's your turn up front, keep the speed steady and for only as long as you feel comfortable, but not more than two minutes. Then pull off and decelerate a bit. "Keep pedaling at a moderately fast pace," says Applegate, "then start sneaking over as the last rider goes by."

What He Learned...Conserve energy by soft pedaling versus coasting, keeping off the brakes, and shifting to maintain speed and cadence. All of these things eliminated Cook's yo-yoing in the pack, which meant fewer surges of effort to latch back on.

Draft wisely. Now Cook looks at the grass to find where the wind is coming from so he can tuck in wherever he's best able to conserve energy.

Recover fully or pay. "I tried to cram too many group rides into my schedule the first month or two and actually got slower for most of the summer," he says. "Rest and variety are huge."

The Rookie: Kelly Szymczyk, 48, Lewisberry, Pennsylvania
Though she'd been a Spinning instructor for a dozen years, Szymczyk had a road bike she rarely used.

"My husband would ride, but frankly I was scared," she says. "There's that bike-handling thing you don't have to do indoors. We weren't in the most bike-friendly place in Alabama.

I had little kids. I was tired—and full of excuses." When her husband's job relocated to Pennsylvania in 2009, Szymczyk found wide-open, cycling-friendly country roads and was determined to try again. She joined the Harrisburg Bike Club, where the reality of the outdoors hit her full-on in the form of hills. Her first major climb was Kings Gap, a 4-mile ascent at a gradual 5 to 6 percent grade. Once over the top, she says, she started freaking out.

"It was switchbacky and there was some gravel on the shoulders," Szymczyk recalls. "I rode my brakes so hard all the way down, my hands were completely cramped up and beet-red under my gloves by the time I got to the bottom." Though she's learned to ease up, she still feels wary of using the drops and takes it slow. "I'm a cautious descender, but getting more comfortable," she says. "But it's my inexperience in bike handling that makes it slow going."

The Challenge: Descending
Descending can seem counterintuitive: Your first instinct—brake, hard!—can send you to the ground. It takes finesse and confidence, both of which come with practice.

The Advice: Start with a short, straight downhill you can descend with no brakes and practice getting into the correct position.

"New riders often sit bolt upright because they don't like how they speed up with their hands in the drops," says Applegate. "But that's unstable; your weight is too high and too far forward." Shift your rear back, spreading out your weight, and put your hands in the drops. "This lowers your center of gravity, keeps the rear wheel firmly on the ground, and makes the bike more predictable," Applegate says. "And it gives you more leverage with the brakes."

Scrub speed by gently squeezing the brakes. Your front brake holds about 80 percent of your stopping power, so go easy on it. And be cautious in turns. "When you brake, your bike stands up and goes straight—the opposite of what you want in a turn," Applegate says. Instead, slow down gradually so you're at a comfortable speed when you reach a turn. "Steer by leaning your bike, not your body," says Herrera. Press your outside leg into that pedal. Point the other knee to the inside to shift your hips and shoulders into the turn.

Look where you want the bike to go. "It will follow your head and eyes," says Herrera. Flatten the turn by starting wide (without crossing the yellow line), cutting through the apex and exiting wide.

What She Learned...Don't put a death grip on the handlebar: "I am learning to relax and enjoy the air as I go. I also feather the brakes more."

To descend you first have to climb, and Szymczyk switched her gearing after watching others roll past her. "I started asking everyone what gears they had," she says. "First I bought a new cassette, switching from an 11-23 to a 12-28; then this past fall I put on a compact. Big help!"

The hill is never as bad as you think it will be. "My imagination is always worse than the reality," she says.

The Rookie: Justin Sotdorus, 24, York, Pennsylvania
Sotdorus started riding to cross-train for motorcycle racing. "A lot of pros ride bikes to stay in shape," he says. He bought a Felt F85 and headed out with a neighbor who was into bikes. Though he'd only ridden BMX as a kid, Sotdorus adjusted to group rides quickly: "A lot of it correlated with motorcycle racing." A naturally competitive person, he soon started racing—with some success. "I wanted to see how far I could go and how hard I could push myself," he says. "Racing was the only way to do that."

But like many rookies, Sotdorus rode the same way every day. "I would ride until it hurt and was hard," he says. "I'd do that three days in a row and by the fourth day I'd be burned. I'd get to the point where I didn't feel like riding."

Eventually he bought a heart-rate monitor and started training with periodization based on heart-rate zones. "I quickly saw that even when I thought I was going easy, I was going too hard to really recover," says Sotdorus, who has since upgraded to a Jamis Zenith Elite.

The Challenge: Getting Fit
Cycling habits are easy to form. We start riding and repeat what we know, doing the same routes at the same speed, says Lynda Wallenfels of LW Coaching in St. George, Utah. "Being too consistent is the biggest error I see in new riders," she says. Your body adapts quickly, then either gets tired by the constant demands or stalls out from the lack of challenge—or you simply get bored.

The Advice: Sotdorus found the key to faster gains. The best way for beginner riders to mix it up is to spend more time riding at the extremes, says Herrera.

Go really hard a couple days a week and really easy (or rest) another one or two, and then ride moderately other times. This will help improve all levels of fitness, including speed, strength, and anaerobic capacity, not just endurance. "Most riders have pesky day jobs that get in the way of their weekday training," says Herrera. "So if you have only 30 to 60 minutes during the week, go out and ride them at medium to high intensity—say, warming up for 15 minutes, riding at your threshold, where you're breathing heavy, for 20 to 35 minutes, and easy for 10. You'll get a great workout and keep the gains coming."

What He Learned...The benefits of cycling carry over—for Sotdorus, to motorcycle racing. "Now when I'm going 100 mph," he says, "my heart rate and breathing are much slower, thanks to cycling."

Mix up your rides. "I've included a lot more variety," Sotdorus says.

Listen to your body. "If I feel good, I go hard," he says. "If I feel tired, I don't ride." It isn't much more complicated than that.

The Rookie: Vicki Fordt 52, Winsted, Connecticut
Having finally shed her baby weight from having three kids ("Yeah, it took 13 years," she says, "but who's counting?") at Spin classes, Ford decided to try riding, which she'd loved as a kid. She got a Specialized Allez.

"I upgraded to cleats and clipless pedals, and considered myself a serious cyclist," she recalls with a laugh. Her early forays were relatively short, but felt epic.

"It's 8 miles around the lake here," she says. "At the time, it was hard to do." To stay motivated, she targeted the Tour of the Litchfield Hills, a ride with five routes ranging from 12 to 100 miles.

Her first long rides were tough in predictable and surprising ways. She expected to find pacelines unnerving. But one 40-mile ride stunned her.

Ford encountered the bonk. "It was windy," she recalls. "I'd only packed one Gu. Five miles from home, I had to get off my bike and walk it across a busy intersection because I didn't trust myself to ride across the traffic." She made it home, but barely.

Now she eats two hours ahead and brings food—tactics that helped her finish the 50-mile Litchfield route. "That was a huge deal for me; I proved I could do anything I set out to do," she says. "This year, I'm going to try for 75."

The Challenge: Fueling Right
Bonking is a rite of passage for new cyclists, one that's often repeated multiple times before the lesson is learned. It's easy to simply forget to eat. "New riders can be prone to bonking because they may still be primarily carb burners," says Applegate. "As you ride more, you become a better fat burner and more efficient at using energy."

The Advice: The other reason new riders like Ford don't eat? They need to train their stomachs to adapt to taking in fuel during exercise, says Applegate.

"Training adaptations happen throughout your body, including the gastrointestinal system to tolerate and absorb calories," he says. "I have riders tell me they can't eat on the bike. I tell them it's part of training."

Start with sports drinks, an easy source of carbs and calories, says Wallenfels. Then try food you like. Energy bars are an option, but real food is better, says USA Cycling-certified coach Eddie Monnier. For three-plus-hour rides, he suggests jelly sandwiches with a little peanut butter and Fig Newtons before bars or gels. Pack food in partially opened zipperlock bags for easy access.

And stop for a few bites if you're not comfortable eating on the fly. "For long rides, aim to eat about 250 calories per hour, including food and drink, and more if you're a bigger rider," says Wallenfels. Meter those calories out beginning 30 minutes into the ride to get a steady stream of energy. Eat small amounts hourly and wash it down with cold fluid, and you'll stay cool, hydrated, and fueled.

What She Learned...She always packs a bit more than she thinks she needs. Better to get home with extra snacks than be 20 miles away in a headwind and out of gas.

Food is not optional. "I force myself to eat and drink regularly if I'm going long," she says, "even if I don't feel particularly hungry or thirsty."

Join the pack. "Riding with a group makes me a better rider because I learn so much about eating right, shifting right, and pedaling smoothly."